Roses are Red
by Aragorns
Summary: Before team RNJR deal with the gheist, a man visits Ruby and convinces her to come with him to another world to make someone happy... a world called Earth. (Currently a oneshot, not set in a specific Earth yet)


**So, in celebration of RWBY Volume 4 FINALLY being here, I decided to write a little something. It was meant to be out before the second episode but sometimes, kids, life doesn't work out the way you want it to.**

 **For those of you who follow Fated Refuge, another chapter is coming. I just needed some time to think about how to tackle certain things both in the plot of Fated Refuge and irl.**

 **So, without further ado, on with this story! DISCLAIMER: I do not own RWBY, it belongs to Roosterteeth**

* * *

Roses are Red

He could hear his flat quite clearly. He knew that this day would come eventually; flat party. It sounded like a nightclub had been started in the hallway, but thankfully he had just the remedy; laptop and headphones. He put on the headphones and started listening to what had become his favourite band.

However, as he was about to lose himself in a song and start singing, there was a knock at his door that somehow reached him through his headphones, causing him to jump and remove equipment from atop his dark brown hair. He went over and opened the door, expecting to see one of his flat mates.

Surprisingly, he found someone he was unfamiliar with. A girl with long, shoulder length black hair which appeared to have been tip-dyed red. She wore a very odd blouse and skirt, and a long red cloak... but what really caught his attention was her eyes; beautiful silver eyes. "Oh... hello."

"Heeeyy," She said awkwardly and immediately he heard it; she was American judging by the accent. He knew a lot of Americans had come to this university, all the way at the very bottom of England. "Can I... come in? It's a bit hectic out here."

Ah, that was it. The unwilling friend who was dragged to a party that was more wild and/or crowded than they thought it would be. He gave her a smile, "sure, come in." He let her in, though found himself moving a chair and several shoes, and a shirt. "Sorry about the, uh, state of my—"

"It's fine." She rather hastily put in, "Really." She smiled in a way that was reassuring. "Um... I'm Ruby."

There was something in the back of his head, something that said that he should know this girl, but he could not place his finger on it. "I'm Matthew. Or uh, Matt for short." He smiled at her. "I mean, I don't particularly mind... and rambling again."

Ruby could not help but giggle softly. "It's fine. I'm not really a social person either." Matt got two glasses and found a bottle of lemonade, pouring them both a glass before handing one to Ruby as she sat on the bed that was across from the desk.

"Here is to the socially inept." Matt joked as the two toasted. Ruby laughed a bit louder... it was a nice laugh, or so Matt thought.

 _Hell, Matthew. Barely met the girl and you're falling for her. What kind of desperation is that?_

* * *

Let us rewind a couple of hours.

Ruby Rose was sitting on one of the roofs of the many small houses that dotted the village they were currently staying in, looking up at the night sky. She was swinging her legs back and forth, thinking about the last six months, about the journey she and her three friends had been on, about the Grimm they would be fighting the next morning... at least, three of them. Jaune currently had no weapons to fight with.

Her peaceful thinking was interrupted when she heard another voice; "Beautiful night, isn't it?"

She almost fell off the roof, but quickly regained what little composure she had to begin with and looked towards the source of the voice; it belonged to someone wearing a tattered, faded black trench coat with a hood. The hood was down, revealing an older man with long, dark hair.

"Who are—" The crimson reaper began only for the man to put a finger against her lips.

"Who I am... does not matter. Yet. But I need your help."

Had she been anyone else, she would have demanded to know who they are before she even considered helping them, ask why he was being so secretive, how she could possibly trust him; but this was Ruby Rose. "Sure! What do you need?"

"You to come with me. Alone."

Now she was a bit defensive. This was not small request and at this time of night? "Why should I—" However, her protests were erased when she saw him standing in front of a portal. How she had missed him making said portal was beyond her, but she knew one thing; that was cool. "How did you do that!?"

He stepped to the side. "To come with me. Alone. To another world." He looked at her with serious eyes. "No one else can know. I'm sure that you have plenty of questions. Here is what you need to know right now; there is someone I know, who... needs some... encouragement. I will explain more once I know that you will come with me... and after its over. There's just some stuff that I don't want you to be thinking about wh—"

"I'll do it." She interrupted. The figure blinked in surprise. "Someone needs help, right?"

"Yes."

"And you're pretty sure that I'm the only one who can help..."

"Actually," He spoke up, "I'm absolutely positive that you are my best option."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Ruby stood up and marched towards the portal.

"One thing."

Ruby stopped and turned. "What?"

"You cannot take your Scythe."

Eventually she was convinced to relinquish Crescent Rose to his custody, but by the time this had been accomplished it had been almost two hours; the figure discovered that she was VERY protective of that scythe. Then... they stepped through the portal.

Ruby and her mysterious new friend appeared outside a block of flats the walls painted purple. The figure walked over to a door whilst Ruby looked around; she had never seen somewhere quite like this. Behind her was a wooden fence with some wires filling the gaps between the wood panels, but beyond that was a lot of wild forest. There was a field she could see with animals in it, but one thing confused her. "Where are the defences...?" She asked.

"Defences from what, exactly?" The figure replied, before properly answering her, "in this world, there are no Grimm, they are free to build wherever they please without having to worry about constant danger."

Ruby looked out at the forest once again, but this time she was in awe; this world sounded so peaceful. Not having to worry about Grimm? Paradise.

"Come on." She heard the man say and turned, seeing him hold the door open. She quickly followed him inside.

Liiiine~

Now she was here, talking to a complete stranger. It had certainly been a strange night. "So..." She spoke up after taking a long, awkward silence-inducing, drink of lemonade. She looked at his desk and listened for a moment; she could hear some very faint music from his headphones.

"Oh! Sorry, um," Matt went over to his laptop and was about to pause the music but was stopped when Ruby suddenly spoke up,.

"Sorry for what?"

"Um," Matt rubbed the back of his neck, "leaving the music on. I mean, it was obviously bothering you, s—"

"Nope."

Matt blinked. "Nope?"

Ruby nodded, "Nope, wasn't bothering me." She stood and walked over, "Think I could listen to it?"

"Sure, sure. Uh, let me just unplug this thing..." He pulled at a cable and the music came out, but very quietly. He began to ramble inaudibly to himself as he turned up the volume, causing Ruby to smile; she found his awkward rambling... cute.

 _Wait._

 _Did I just think that?_

She was pulled out of her thoughts by the music, which she was surprised by. Not so much because of the style of music, but because of the lyrics. It flowed like poetry to the music and every sentence, every word, meant something, or that is what it felt like, at least.

"What's the band called?" She asked, genuinely curious.

To her pleasant surprise his eyes seemed to light up. "They're called... Twenty One Pilots. They've basically become the soundtrack to my life recently." He chuckled at that. "Their songs mean something, you know? In a world where most songs these days are half-arsed musically and mostly about who the artist last slept with, doing drugs, getting wasted and being filthy rich... they are certainly a light in the darkness. A... beacon, if you will."

Ruby was happily listening until he mentioned it; beacon. Even the word made her think of what had happened... what snapped her out of it before she had a true flashback was his voice. "Ruby?" She had not realised it, but she had backed away from him. "Did I... I said something wrong, didn't I?"

"No..." She stopped him before he could start apologising. It was not his fault. "It's not your fault, I just.." She could not tell him, not without revealing that she was from another world. Yet next time she looked at him, his arms were open, inviting her into a hug of comfort. "You... barely know me." She said, quite honestly surprised.

"Yeah, but... you obviously need a hug at least, and I know I'm not much, but, the offer is there... you don't have to tell me what's wrong." The blue-eyed boy added, "I'm just offering a hug." He gave her a smile.

She found herself suddenly with her face buried in his shoulder and her arms clinging to him. She was trying very hard not to cry. She felt his arms gently wrap around her. "You can let it out." He softly spoke. And so she did, letting the tears fall that she had been holding back.

* * *

If Matt was perfectly honest with himself right now, he had no idea what to do. There was a girl in his arms who was crying into his shoulder for reasons he was not aware of. This was not a situation he thought he would find himself in, nor was it one he was familiar with. He just did the best he could, gently stroking through her hair, holding her, trying his best to comfort her. It was hard to focus when his mind had clocked that her hair had a nice aroma to it.

 _Thanks, brain. Trying to comfort a pretty girl and you make me notice the_ _ **fragrance**_ _ **of**_ _ **her**_ _ **hair**_ _. Really useful._

He eventually noticed that she was calming down and decided to help her calm down. "Shh... it's okay, that's it..." Soon afterwards, she had calmed down quite a bit. She pulled away, looking at him, her eyes red with crying... but a smile was etched on her face.

"Thank you... I didn't know I needed that."

He smiled in return, "I'm just happy I could help."

Her silver eyes met his blue ones for a moment to long, then they suddenly separated from each other, both rubbing the backs of their necks rather awkwardly and both blushing, neither looking directly at the other. "Um..." Matt noticed the time on his laptop. "You should probably be heading home, it's rather late..."

She nodded, "it was nice meeting you, Matt."

"You too, Ruby."

She went to leave, but stopped at the door. She had one last thing she needed to do, the whole reason she was there in the first place; encourage him. "Matthew?" Her use of his full name got his attention. She turned and looked at him, smiling again, "you're very special. Don't forget that." Before he could ask her why she said that, she was gone.

She gently let go of the door handle and turned to look at the man who had brought her here. He nodded and opened the portal home. "If you still want answers, I'll tell you everything back in Remnant."

She nodded and walked through, he quickly followed. The portal closed, but not before a student saw it. He blinked, looked down at the vodka in his hand and sighed. "I _really_ need to drink less..."

* * *

Matthew collapsed onto his chair and turned on his laptop. It had been a day of waiting, but it was finally here; the first episode of RWBY, volume 4. For a moment, he thought once again about the events of last night. The girl called Ruby. He had done a bit of inquiring, but no one seemed to know her. He sighed, realising that he would probably never see her again.

He should have asked for contact details or something like that.

Deciding to distract himself from the thoughts, he went ahead and started to watch the episode he had been waiting for, putting on his headphones to block out the rest of the world. However, as the episode unfolded, he had to do a double take. A triple take. His brain was in denial for a good ten minutes.

The hair, the outfit, the laugh, the eyes... of course.

There had been something at the back of his head, something that said that he should know the girl last night. It was not even a cosplay situation... it was her, it was one hundred percent her, utterly and absolutely. Ruby Rose. She had visited him. She had been interested in his favourite band. She had cried in his arms.

He could not help but smile a bit, though he was fairly certain someone had spiked his lemonade because this could not possibly be real. But he smiled as he thought aloud to himself.

"My fictional crush told me I was special."

He looked at his lemonade. He decided he would ask his flatmates if they had spiked it at all. But deep down, he dearly hoped that they had not.

* * *

 **Yep. There it is. So, even in oneshots I have to give myself a reason for stuff to happen, like Ruby suddenly appearing in the real world.**

 **It was going to be a first person reader "y/n" insert deal, but then I made this character and decided to use him instead, because why not.**

 **Speaking of, whilst this is supposed to be a oneshot, I honestly could see myself making it a full-fledged story. Let me know what you think!**

 **Peace.**


End file.
